Consumer Protection

  • July 31, 2024

    Wells Fargo Hit With Suit Over Cash Sweep Program

    Wells Fargo was hit with a proposed class action by a customer claiming the bank's cash sweep investment program only allows users to sweep their cash into Wells Fargo-selected accounts, a practice the suit says has drawn regulatory scrutiny because it disproportionately benefits the bank.

  • July 31, 2024

    Include Satellites In Broadband Updates, SpaceX Tells FCC

    SpaceX urged the Federal Communications Commission to include provisions for gateway earth station satellite hubs like its own in proposed regulations to expand broadband access within certain spectrum bands, telling the regulator that doing so would be a "win-win-win" for stakeholders.

  • July 31, 2024

    737 Max Families Say Boeing Deal 'Morally Reprehensible'

    Families of victims of the 737 Max 8 crashes asked a Texas federal court Wednesday to reject Boeing's plea agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice, saying the "rotten deal" lets the American aerospace giant skirt culpability for the deaths of 346 people.

  • July 31, 2024

    GOP Senate Bill To Bar FCC's AI Disclosure Rule Blocked

    A Republican effort in the U.S. Senate aiming to prevent the Federal Communications Commission from requiring broadcasters to disclose the use of artificial intelligence in political ads lost traction at the committee level Wednesday.

  • July 31, 2024

    EPA Floats Ban On Many Uses Of Carcinogen 1-BP

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday proposed banning all consumer uses of the carcinogen 1-bromopropane — except in insulation — as well as some industrial and commercial uses.

  • July 31, 2024

    SEC Settles Reg BI Case Against Calif. Broker-Dealer

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced Wednesday it has agreed to settle allegations that Western International Securities Inc. sold more than $13 million in high-risk debt securities to those with lower risk profiles, marking the potential end of a first-of-its kind enforcement action claiming violations of Regulation Best Interest.

  • July 31, 2024

    5th Circ. Pause Spells Doom For DOT Airline Fees Rule

    The Fifth Circuit gave the airline industry a temporary reprieve from a new U.S. Department of Transportation rule requiring carriers to more clearly disclose add-on fees upfront, a decision that stands to embolden opponents of the Biden administration's more aggressive consumer-focused policies.

  • July 31, 2024

    Philip Morris Nicotine Pouches Are Deceptive, Lawsuit Claims

    Philip Morris violated advertising and trade practices laws by selling "highly addictive" nicotine products designed and packaged to resemble breath mints and deceptively telegraphed that the tobacco-free pouches were healthier than cigarettes, according to a proposed class action in Connecticut federal court.

  • July 31, 2024

    Corteva Unit Ordered To Search 110K Boxes For PFAS Docs

    A former North Carolina Superior Court judge in charge of ironing out a dispute between the state and a Corteva Inc. subsidiary over allegedly missing documents ordered the company to search through 110,000 boxes for information related to "forever-chemicals," finding it failed to give assurance the boxes were thoroughly searched.

  • July 31, 2024

    NYC Fraudster Gets Two Years For Crime Borne Of 'Nastiness'

    A Manhattan federal judge sentenced a New York City woman to two years in prison Wednesday for stealing $290,000 from investors who backed her purported investment club, saying the defendant's criminal conduct, including threats to victims, was uncommonly callous.

  • July 31, 2024

    Pop-Up Malware Scammer Gets 7 Years For Duping Elderly

    A Manhattan federal judge hit an Indian national with a seven-year prison sentence Wednesday after he admitted operating a malware call center that targeted over 6,000 victims with deceptive pop-up warnings and generated more than $6 million in criminal proceeds.

  • July 31, 2024

    4 Mass. Rulings You May Have Missed In July

    Massachusetts state court judges refereed a damages dispute between a real estate titan and a Big Four consultant, ruled in favor of allegedly underpaid healthcare workers and untangled a defamation suit over a labor executive's old social media posts, among other notable rulings during the month of July.

  • July 31, 2024

    DraftKings Closes NFT Platform Over 'Legal Developments'

    DraftKings has announced that it is shuttering its nonfungible token marketplace due to "recent legal developments," with the decision coming weeks after a Massachusetts federal judge permitted a proposed securities class action involving the marketplace to move forward.

  • July 31, 2024

    Fifth Third Seeks Exit From Bounced Check Fee Suit

    Cincinnati-based Fifth Third Bank NA has asked a federal judge to toss a proposed class action alleging it charges consumers unlawful fees when they try to deposit a check that bounces, saying the customers agreed to a contract that contains fee clauses for depositing returned items.

  • July 31, 2024

    Chicago Area's Brookfield Zoo Sued Over Data Breach

    The popular Brookfield Zoo has been hit with a putative class action alleging inadequate cybersecurity measures failed to protect against a January data breach the zoo waited six months to make public, putting employees at risk of identity theft without proper notice.

  • July 31, 2024

    TaxAct Customers' Attys Want $5.8M Fee For $23M Deal

    The attorneys for TaxAct Inc. customers who secured a $23 million deal to resolve claims that the company was secretly sharing confidential taxpayer information with Meta and Google asked a federal judge to award them more than $5.8 million in fees for their work.

  • July 31, 2024

    Ex-AUSA Joins Motley Rice Fraud Team From DiCello Levitt

    Plaintiffs' firm Motley Rice LLC said Wednesday that it hired a former New York assistant U.S. attorney to support its efforts to protect whistleblowers who expose misconduct, fraud and deceptive trade practices.

  • July 31, 2024

    DC Attorney General Sues StubHub Over 'Junk Fees'

    D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb on Wednesday sued StubHub, accusing the ticket resale and exchange website of duping consumers with low ticket prices before tacking on "junk fees" at the end of an artificially urgent purchasing process.

  • July 31, 2024

    Judge Refuses To Rethink Injury Firm Conflict Of Interest DQ

    A law firm was properly disqualified from a family's design defect lawsuit against Home Depot USA Inc. and makers of a lawn mower, a New Jersey federal judge has ruled, confirming a prior finding that a conflict of interest arose between the father and daughter when the companies countersued the father.

  • July 30, 2024

    Delta Hires Boies Schiller To Recoup Outage-Related Damages

    Delta Air Lines has retained Boies Schiller Flexner LLP to help it pursue potential damages from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike and Microsoft in the wake of the mid-July global tech outage that left passengers stranded, a person familiar with the matter confirmed to Law360 on Tuesday.

  • July 30, 2024

    Pa. House Majority Leader Fights Robocall Suit At 3rd Circ.

    The Democratic majority leader of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives on Tuesday asked the Third Circuit to undo a ruling that his automated calls informing constituents about government programs violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

  • July 30, 2024

    Judge Asks Dish If Circuits Truly Split On Data Breach Claims

    A Colorado federal judge on Tuesday pressed Dish Network Corp. and a group of current and former Dish employees who are suing the company in a putative class action about a ransomware attack last year to address whether there is a split among federal circuits on what allegations are needed to support claims in data breach cases.

  • July 30, 2024

    Amazon Must Recall Unsafe Third-Party Products, CPSC Says

    Amazon bears legal responsibility for recalling the hundreds of thousands of products sold by third-party sellers on its site that are defective or fail to meet safety standards, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission found in an order issued Monday.

  • July 30, 2024

    FDIC Moves To Revamp Brokered Deposit Regs In Policy Push

    The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on Tuesday unveiled a proposal that would subject more bank deposits to heightened regulation as "brokered" funds, outlining new rules that the agency pitched as addressing risks highlighted by failures of firms like First Republic Bank and Voyager, a crypto lender.

  • July 30, 2024

    LastPass Can't Ditch Data Breach Fight, But Its Parent Co. Can

    A Massachusetts federal judge trimmed some claims Tuesday from a sprawling putative class action alleging LastPass failed to prevent a data breach of its backup cloud server, throwing out allegations against LastPass US LLP's parent company, but finding the consumers sufficiently stated claims against LastPass and alleged they have been harmed.

Expert Analysis

  • Blocked JetBlue-Spirit Deal Illustrates New Antitrust Approach

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    The U.S. Department of Justice’s recent successful block of a merger between JetBlue Airways and Spirit Airlines demonstrates antitrust enforcers’ updated and disparate approach to out-of-market benefits versus out-of-market harms, say Lisa Rumin and Anthony Ferrara at McDermott.

  • Back Labels In False Ad Cases Get Some Clarity In 9th Circ.

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    Courts in the Ninth Circuit have recently delivered a series of wins to advertisers, making clear that any ambiguity on the front of a product's package can be resolved by reference to the back label — which guarantees defendants a powerful tool to combat deceptive labeling claims, say attorneys at Patterson Belknap.

  • Series

    Fla. Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q1

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    Early 2024 developments that could have a notable impact on Florida's finance community include progress on a bill that would substantially revise the state Securities and Investor Protection Act, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's final rule capping late fees for larger credit card issuers, say Benjamin Weinberg and Megan Riley at Leon Cosgrove.

  • Series

    NY Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q1

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    The first quarter of 2024 saw a number of notable legal and regulatory developments that will significantly affect New York's financial services industry, including the New York Department of Financial Services' finalized novel guidance directing banks to continuously monitor the character and fitness of key personnel, say Brian Montgomery and Nathan Lewko at Pillsbury.

  • Opinion

    Federal MDL Rule Benefits From Public Comments

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    The new Federal Rule of Civil Procedure concerning multidistrict litigation that was approved this week by the Advisory Committee on Civil Rules incorporates ideas from public comments that will aid both plaintiffs and defense attorneys — and if ultimately adopted, the rule should promote efficient, merits-driven MDL case management, say Robert Johnston and Gary Feldon at Hollingsworth.

  • Practicing Law With Parkinson's Disease

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    This Parkinson’s Awareness Month, Adam Siegler at Greenberg Traurig discusses his experience working as a lawyer with Parkinson’s disease, sharing both lessons on how to cope with a diagnosis and advice for supporting colleagues who live with the disease.

  • Opinion

    Aviation Watch: Not All Airline Mergers Hurt The Public

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    The U.S. Department of Justice's actions to block recent attempted airline mergers have been touted as serving the interests of the consumers — but given the realities of the deregulated air travel market, a tie-up like the one proposed between JetBlue and Spirit might have been a win for the public, says Alan Hoffman, a retired attorney and aviation expert.

  • The Merger Cases That Will Matter At ABA Antitrust Meeting

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    While the American Bar Association's Antitrust Spring Meeting this week will cover all types of competition law issues in the U.S. and abroad, expect the federal agencies' recent track record in merger enforcement to be a key area of focus on the official panels and in cocktail party chatter, say attorneys at Freshfields.

  • How Banks Should Respond To Calif. AG's Overdraft Warning

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    Banks and credit unions should heed recent guidance from California’s attorney general, along with warnings by consumer regulators of all stripes, regarding unfair fee practices by properly disclosing their fees and practices, and ensuring the amounts charged mirror federal benchmarks, say Brett D. Watson and Madeline Suchard at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Cos. Should Prepare For Foreign Data Transfer Regulations

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    A new regulatory regime designed to protect U.S. sensitive data from countries of concern may complicate an already intricate geopolitical landscape and affect even companies beyond the data industry, but with careful preparation, such companies can endeavor to minimize the effect on their business operations and ensure compliance, say David Plotinsky and Jiazhen Guo at Morgan Lewis.

  • Climate Disclosure Mandates Demand A Big-Picture Approach

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    As carbon emissions disclosure requirements from the European Union, California and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission take effect, the best practice for companies is not targeted compliance with a given reporting regime, but rather a comprehensive approach to systems assessment and management, says David Smith at Manatt.

  • Series

    Playing Hockey Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Nearly a lifetime of playing hockey taught me the importance of avoiding burnout in all aspects of life, and the game ultimately ended up providing me with the balance I needed to maintain success in my legal career, says John Riccione at Taft.

  • Expect CFPB Enforcement To Continue Ramping Up

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    From hiring and structural changes to continuous external pressure from a variety of sources, all signs indicate that the recent rise of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's public enforcement activity will continue throughout the rest of the year, despite ongoing litigation that could upend everything, say attorneys at Paul Hastings.

  • Opinion

    High Court Should Settle Circuit Split On Risk Disclosures

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    The U.S. Supreme Court should grant the petition for writ of certiorari in the Facebook case to resolve a growing circuit split concerning when risk disclosures can be misleading under federal securities laws, and its decision should align with the intent of Congress and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, says Richard Zelichov at DLA Piper.

  • For Lawyers, Pessimism Should Be A Job Skill, Not A Life Skill

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    A pessimistic mindset allows attorneys to be effective advocates for their clients, but it can come with serious costs for their personal well-being, so it’s crucial to exercise strategies that produce flexible optimism and connect lawyers with their core values, says Krista Larson at Stinson.

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